Now Here’s a Sign of Spring

Alison and I drove over to Creston today, our principal goal to spend some time with Rough-legged Hawk before that species clears out entirely. We had some great views of juveniles and adults, perched and in flight, some of them almost certainly the same individuals I’d run across on my visit last week.

Well, it's e v o c a t i v e .

These last hawks of winter overlapped today with the first geese of spring. It’s more than possible, of course, that some of the many Canada Geese we ran across had not wintered locally, but what is sure is that the 150 Greater White-fronted Geese on a muddy pasture were arrivals from the south.

As we watched from the roadside, we could hear the occasional tootling whistle, a sound that says spring if any ever does.